


Castaway

by empyrean



Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-16
Updated: 2011-01-16
Packaged: 2017-10-14 19:34:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/152711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/empyrean/pseuds/empyrean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a woman at the door, and it's like she has always belonged there. Or, what might have happened if Rose had taken Sarah Jane up on her offer. AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Castaway

There's a woman at the door.

That's not the weird bit – there are always people coming to the house. But usually they say things like 'hello we're here from the school board/police/UNIT' and then things like 'we're here to talk to you about Luke/Luke/Sarah Jane _and_ Luke'.

Instead, the woman blinks, shakes his hand and says 'Hello, you must be Luke. Is your mum about?'

'Uh, sure.' He frowns, remembers lessons on manners and strangers and the amount of alien tech the house has that people of the street probably shouldn't see. 'Who's asking?'

'Hmm? Oh, sorry.' She beams, the kind of smile that is measured in watts and makes passing men walk into lampposts. 'Rose Tyler, nice to meet you.'

He doesn’t know the name – at least he doesn’t think so, the sheer tedium of GCSE Mathematics has forced out everything else he knows but he suddenly flashes back to an aside mention of Mum’s on the occasions he can get her to talk about her adventures. But there are lots of Roses in the world.

‘Luke? Who’s at the-’

Miss Rose Tyler and Mum stare at each other for almost ten seconds, and Luke starts to wonder if he should maybe escape to his room or shout for Mr. Smith when Mum says _Oh, my dear_ in the kind of tone he instinctively knows is for frightened animals.

'Hi, Sarah.' She smiles, like she would pull apart at the seams if she didn't. 'Tell me about Nessie.'

***

They sit opposite each other at the kitchen table, stories being traded with increasing emotion as Mum pulls a bottle of wine from the pantry. Luke's instincts for these things say the Doctor is involved but his name never actually passes anyone's lips.

It's Mum and Miss Tyler and a wide yawning gap between them where another person should be.

When they think he's gone to bed is when they start talking in a way he half understands but doesn't really.

'You really need to stop doing this to yourself, Rose. _Oh_ ,' he can almost hear Mum shaking her head at herself. 'Sorry. I'm forgetting what it was like when I realised he wasn't coming back. I was worse, actually. Time and space and then I get back to Croydon and _The Good Life‘s_ on the telly. Oh dear, that _does_ date me a bit, doesn’t it?'

Miss Tyler's laugh cracks in her throat and dies before it ever escapes her mouth. 'I think I got off easier than you. Least I know he's not going to come back, rather than twenty years later he saunters by and goes “Oh, didn't I mention? I don't come back for people. Sorry about that.”'

'Was that why?'

Miss Tyler is harder to hear, from the half-open door he can see that she's kind of hunched in on herself like she's expecting someone to hit her. 'Sort of. I realised that if I didn't leave...One day I'd turn around and I wouldn't be able to recognise my own planet, my own people, my own _family_ anymore. I could hardly put 'Saw the universe' on my CV to explain the massive gap, could I? And if I stayed...'

'You would never leave until _he_ left _you_.'

'Yeah.' Miss Tyler glances sidelong at Mum, 'And, no offence, I really don't want to be the little woman waiting for the man who never comes home.'

'None taken.'

And that's it. And for all that Mum speaks of the Doctor as the most wonderful man anyone will ever meet, it doesn't take much of Luke's intelligence to work out that sometimes 'wonderful' is not always the same as 'nice'.

They chatter about careers and futures (what is a human future when compared to where Mum and Rose have been?) and finally Mum has to leave the room to answer the phone. He peeks around the doorway, whispers to the girl who has seen the universe and chosen Earth.

'What's it like?'

She looks at him – clear-eyed and steady no matter how many bottle now decorate the table. He wonders if she doesn't understand the question until she takes a breath and speaks.

He doesn't know if she says it because Mum is in the next room (and Sarah Jane Smith has eyes like a hawk and a sense of hearing that could detect the materialisation of a time-and-space machine a mile off) or if she _really_ believes it, but she answers.

'The saddest thing in the entire world.'

***

She pops up quite often after that.

He wonders about it, for a bit. They've not got much in common, her and Mum, and when Rose mentions someone called 'Ace' he suspects that Mum might be setting up a support group for friends of the Doctor.

(Except that when Rose talks about Ace she says 'She incredible, she took out the entire building with the stuff in a deodorant can. You'd love- Actually, no I don't think you'd love her. Too bomb-happy for you, I think.'

'Investigative journalism usually frowns on property destruction' Mum agrees, biting her lip to hide a grin.)

But when he goes to the attic one day, he finds them there giggling over the daily reports on possible alien activity Mr Smith gathers.

'The _moon_? Really?'

'And Cardiff. I never did understand the amount of odd things that pop up in South Wales.'

'Oh, that's the rift.' Rose embarks on an explanation including flapping hands, a model dinosaur and a line of end-to-end dominoes. This turns into a discussion about the most outrageous lies they've ever told to get out of trouble ('I told him I was a journalist.' 'The Queen.' 'The _Pope_.' 'Don't _listen_ to her, Luke.').

They end up laughing hysterically, holding each other up as the floor trembles with the force of it and Mrs Gibbons next door says 'Well I _never_ ' when she sees them through the window.

He still doesn't quite understand. Well I never _what?_

 _***_

Rose doesn't show up for a month afterwards – and between the aliens and the running and the explosions he almost doesn't notice.

Almost. Because Mum keeps checking her phone for messages and Rose must be involved in something big and secret because even Mr Smith can't find her.

Then they come home one day to find Rose on the front steps, petting and chatting to K-9 like she had never belonged anywhere else.

'Hi!' She waggles bandaged fingers at them, 'I picked the lock, but I brought cake. Does that even it out?'

Mum squawks and fusses and scolds in a way that lots of mums do but Sarah Jane definitely _doesn't_. Rose takes the attention in a way that says she has a mum too, pouting and sighing and scuffing her feet on the floor. She wiggles a lot in the seat, trying to slouch but remembering she can't when he hears the bandages rustle under her clothes. Bruises bloom over her skin. Roses. Some look a bit like fingerprints. He almost wants to ask how to happened, but Mum has never taught him the protocol on how to ask what aliens almost killed you.

He catches her eye by accident when she passes him a slice of cake. ('Nothing lethal I swear! Well the eggs did look a little funny but that might be because I stored them in the same place as the tentacles.')

'Cybermen. Pray you never have to meet them, Lukey boy.'

Mum looks up so fast he can hear vertebra cracking. 'Cybermen, here?'

Rose flaps her uninjured hand. 'Not anymore, everything's been dealt with, courtesy of Torchwood. Praise be to us, and all that.'

They salute each other with their teacups and Luke resolves to search Mr Smith's database the next chance he gets. Now it's his turn to shift in his seat, the usual question rising to sit on his tongue.

'What's it like?'

She shares a _Look_ with Mum. Then she turns to him and tilts her head, watches him with bright dark eyes, like a sparrow. Sometimes when you look at a bird’s eyes you can see the alien intelligence behind them, something old and unfathomable, grown in them as dinosaurs and still twitching underneath in their brain cells even as small feathery animals. He can see it in Rose’s face.

When she turns to him she looks ten years older and tired and _hurt_.

'Dangerous.'

***

He's got the results from his Mocks back and even though the results are obvious – school is _easy_ – Mum coos and invites Clyde and Rani over and buys far more takeout than they really need.

Which turns out to be a good thing when Rose sweeps in, dirty and smelling of the stars (ozone and coldness and something _other_ ) and bearing a small object like it holds all of the mysteries of the universe.

'Here,' she drops it into Mum's hand 'You have no idea how many people I had to shag to get that.'

Which makes Mum choke on her chow mein, Rani go pillarbox red and Clyde stare at Rose like _she_ holds all the mysteries of the universe. Mum looks at the part then – _really_ looks – and frowns a little.

'This- I need this for K-9. How did you-'

'Someone at UNIT mentioned it to someone, who mentioned it to someone, who mentioned it to someone else who mentioned it to me.' That mad beaming grin, delighted and deranged and Luke wonders if that's what the Doctor is a little like. 'Ta da!'

'Thank you, Rose.' Mum glances between the silver chip and the smiling blonde, like she expected either to rip open their foreheads and lunge at her. If anything, Rose smiles harder.

'I was teasing about the shagging, Sarah.'

She winks at him, Clyde and Rani, waits for Sarah to raise her glass to her mouth. 'It wasn't _that_ many.'

Mum splutters and Rose’s laugh rings with space and eternity and the twinkling of starlight. Undiluted happiness. And he thinks that’s definitely what the Doctor is like.

Later, she explains the part to Mum, chopstick duels with Clyde and tells Rani about the market planet Persephone ('the most _beautiful_ silk, you couldn't imagine'). Of course the duelling is put an end to with ' _Clyde James Langer!_ ' and the story about shopping turns into one about running and explosions and more running.

They bicker about what he's a Doctor of. 'I think he's a doctor of everything.' 'Master of none?' 'Oh, don't get me started on _that_ one.' 'Probably some kind of science that won't exist for thousands for years.' 'Maybe it's just a name.'

Just a name.

Later, when Rose is pulling on her jacket and chattering to someone on her headset, he wonders. He didn't have a name a few years ago. He doesn't _have_ a middle one. Is having one important?

'Hey kid.' He jumps – Rose is smiling at him like he's done something odd. 'How did you do? On your mocks?'

He hands the paper over, watches her eyes dart over the paper and crinkle at the corners like old paper when they return to meet his. 'Nice one, Luke. Better'n me, anyway.'

'I don't think you need GCSEs to fight aliens.'

'Maybe not.' Then, to the headset, 'Oh hush, it's not like _your_ qualifications are any good either.’ Then back to him. ‘Just don't do what I did. I left school for a boy. Don't do that. For a girl.' She considers, head tilted, the voice crackling in her ear. 'Or a boy, if that's what you're into. Or both. Or anyone, _yes thank you_ _Jack_.'

'Hey, Rose.' She turns back towards him from where she had been bickering with the person on the other end of the line, frowns a little as if she expects him to ask 'What's it like?' and wants to prepare an answer. 'What's your middle name?'

Her nose wrinkles, like it's an odd question (Is it? He has no idea). But she answers, all the same. 'Marion.'

He dreams later, of clever shepherdesses, who mock and tease and run away. Or are they left behind?

***

'I met an earlier him.'

As a conversation opener, it's a strange one to the world in general. But not to them – because everyone in the house knows who 'him' is.

'His eighth, I think.' Rose makes a face, like she hasn't decided whether she wants to laugh or cry. Luke really hopes she doesn't cry – he's better in social situations but apparently it's a human male _thing_ that means he has no idea what to do with a crying woman. And Mum makes a face like Rose’s too.

'And?'

Rose's smile wobbles, balancing on a thin wire over a chasm of 'what was'. 'Dressed like he'd just escaped from a Brontë novel. Sweet. Ridiculous. _Gorgeous_.'

Mum smiles in a way Rose might in a few years. 'He always did like costumes. Did I tell you about when...'

When he comes back later, they're laughing and crying at the same time and usually he's not this confused unless _feelings_ are involved, so maybe it's that.

***

Rose is there when he notices Rani. Really _notices_ her. Mum's on holiday – with strict instructions not to uncover any alien conspiracies – and Rose has been given free reign of Mr Smith. She spends ages complaining about useless co-workers and alien tech and if it was just her and Mr Smith no one would ever need to show up at the office. Mr Smith seems flattered. Well, as flattered as a hyper-intelligent half-alien computer can be.

'You're quiet.'

'Huh?'

'Usually you'd be asking me to describe in detail every aspect of the ship we dug up last week. Don't, by the way. I'm a field agent, not a mechanic. So?'

He doesn't mean to tell her, not really. Rose – and Mum, is it a woman thing or a friends of the Doctor thing? – just has a way of making everyone tell her everything they know. 'I think I'm in love.' It falls out, the first 'I think' ever that isn't because he doesn't want to show off. Rose blinks, slowly.

'Well, I'm flattered, but-'

'What? No, not you, _Rani_.' And he really, _really_ hadn't meant to say that either. Rose grins suddenly, blindingly. Like someone had just switched on a light under her skin.

'Ah, we had wondered.'

It takes Luke a moment to re-orientate himself. '...we?'

'Me an' your mum. We knew you were in love with one of your friends but since you spend all of your time together we were having trouble working out which one. That's one dinner she owes me.'

Somehow, Luke manages to wade through the fact that Rose and _his Mum_ were betting on his love life, that Mum had bet on Clyde, and the idea that they thought that he was _in love with Clyde to start with_ and says 'Uh, yeah, Rani.'

'Ah, young love.' She wrinkles her nose at him and he knows that any minute now she will ruffle his hair and he will not be allowed to escape it. 'So, what's the problem?'

'Problem?'

'Problem!' She repeats cheerfully, like they're playing some weird word association game. 'If there wasn't one you wouldn't be talking to me about it, would you?'

For once, her logic is flawless.

'I only _think_ so.'

Rose nods slowly 'Ye-es?'

'Because...because I don't know what it is. I love Mum but that's completely different. If I've never been in love before I cannot accurately state that I know what love is and that I'm feeling it.' He's getting too agitated. Rose looks worried but he can’t reassure her when he can barely calm himself. 'It's like, like-'

'You find yourself staring at her. Then she looks at you and you have to think of some stupid excuse because saying 'I want to spend the rest of my life with you' sounds really creepy or really pathetic, when you're not going out with them.' Rose isn't looking at him, anymore, lost in some other time and place, mouth quirked up slightly with something that isn't _really_ happiness. 'Thinking to yourself, 'Please, if I can just have the colour of their eyes when I'm sixty, let me have that at least.''

Luke doesn't notice the way Rose's voice slowly folds in on itself as she speaks, weariness settling back on her shoulders like a heavy leather jacket.

'Yeah, exactly. It's annoying. She's thinks I've gone mental. _Clyde_ thinks it's funny as.'

'It's love. If it wasn't annoying, painful and generally a hindrance nobody would bother with it.' Her smile is small, but bright with promises. 'Trust me, some things are worth the monsters.'

He doesn't question the odd phrasing, or ask with one of them she is talking about now.

***

'I met him.'

The mug hovers a few inches in front of Rose's face for a few seconds, the steam making her features hazy and her expression unreadable. She places it back on the table with a sharp click. 'And?'

'He's...' How do you explain a force of nature, of time, of space in words? Anything in the human language isn't really adequate, but the look on Rose's face says 'I know' and he has to come out with _something_ '...weird.'

She laughs, sharp and ringing and so utterly delighted it makes him laugh too. 'That's him. Weird and wonderful and mad as Battenburg.'

They talk about work, and uni, and life.

And the Doctor doesn't enter the conversation once.

***

'Rose, what's it like?'

Her gaze goes upwards, past the skylight, and he knows she isn't seeing a dimensionally transcendental blue box. Just stars and planets and moons orbiting and glowing and shattering light years away. Sad. Dangerous. Lonely, painful, hopeless.

She smiles, eyes full of starlight.

'It's _fantastic_.'

**Author's Note:**

> Quite clearly AU as of recent canon.
> 
> On Rose's name - an old French lyric poem form, the 'Pastourelle' or pastoral, is about the romance of a shepherdess who bests a knight in a battle of wits. He loves her and leaves her, or she leaves him in the night. The shepherdess is often called 'Marion'. And that is your historical literature lesson for today.
> 
> And the Eighth Doctor doesn't get enough love.


End file.
